Printing table set up with xcut xpress (a diecutting machine with a  flexible pressure). Caligo safewash echting inks and extender, glass plates for mixing ink, a pile of blotting paper.a pile of tissue paper - I am lucky to have such a big room/table.

Colours mixed - glue sticks are great for mixing and very cheap. The dark colour is sepia mixed with 1/3 as much extender. The yellow ochre is yellow ochre. The rest are mixed from blue/red/yellow. (these re all the colours I have + white)

This is the plate inked up next to the reference watercolour painting. The prints are nearly always stronger than the paintings - the difference between watercolour and oil I guess. I ink up the plate with tooth brushes and a la poupee - where you wrap a rag around your finger and apply ink with the finger. I then wipe the plate "clean" with rags (old sheeting). The ink is left in the indentations on the plate.

Paper soaking in the bath - this is Hahnemuhle natural

I squeegee the paper on the shower panel (who needs a studio?)

And blot it between sheets of blotting paper. It needs to be damp but with no shiny bits - if its shiny it tends to stick to the plate.

On the xcut - I have an extended base from Handprinted.com with their blanket

And the paper. It is going to be a bleed print printed to the edge of the paper) so the paper is smaller than the plate. Where space is restricted bleed prints can maximise the printing surface.

This is the first trial print. I have found even when everything is perfect with the plate that it takes 2 or 3 prints to get a collagraph plate working. The more I print the more I tweak the plate. I learnt this tweeking from 2 good printer friends at the Edinburgh printmakers - Cat and John. I used to puzzle as they reworked etching plates that looked completely perfect to me. I have learnt.
​My criticism - I had wiped too hard everywhere. Too much extender in green and sepia need more colour in rocks and more definition i water and vegetation.

Second trial print on left, 1st trial print at top. Plate on right. Second crit - More subtle tree trunks (too much red). Add some lower branches, darker bridge, more definition of water. With a colla pva or stick stuff on.graph print you can always add cuts and tears - once it has been inked it is more difficult to add 

Etching plates last forever, collagraph plates are a lot more delicate, I can't be too fussy - I usually print an edition of 10, with approximately 3 trials some plates do not last this. This is the first print of the edition.

Three prints waiting on the mdf boards - I will cover them with tissue than put another MDF board on top - they will dry flat - prints love curling up . You can see that the prints are not identical - technically a varied edition. It is very difficult when applying lots of different colours onto one plate at a time to get them the same - and I don't try - I like to experiment a little to see different effects.

Pile of mdf boards - 10 boards cut from one large board b a local builders merchant.

The plate - its work complete. The plate absorbs a lot of the ink - my husband always prefers the plates to the prints. I do love my plates. Sometimes I cut them up into a celtic/pictish knot - I may do that with this one. Who knows?

I start with a plein aire watercolour painting of the image. 

I compare it to the photo and alter aspects of the design. I decide the background trees in my painting are too uniform - they need more differentiation in terms of sizes.

I use tracing paper to transfer the image from the painting to the card (my collagraphs use a mountboard matrix).

I then draw the image, and paint liquitex gloss medium where I need the white of the paper to show through. ie the sky and the water.

I cut into the card with a dremmel to make grooves to hold the ink. I make the trees and the bridge this way.

This is a dremmel - noisy but efficient.

I make masking tape stencils of the areas that I want to put tiling cement for the rocks.

This is the tiling cement

I apply the tiling cement and make the textures of the rocks.

I peel off the masking tape and repeat the process until all my "rocks" are complete.

I gently sandpaper the rocks then paint highlights with liquitex and the darker areas with AKUA carborandum.

I then varnish the plate with shellac varnish made with shellac flakes and meths. The plate is ready for printing. I will make bleed prints. the paper will be cut to the size of the rectangle drawn on the plate. I am printing using an xcut xpress as Edinburgh printmakers is shut - printing bleed prints maximises the size of print I can make with the xcut. The print will be 13x38cms.

Hurray, very belatedly I have found a pop up gallery.at Churchill.I am sharing with Easy treesy _ who are selling Christmas trees - lovely smell. Come and see my work for real if you are in Edinburgh - still working on my special Covid prices - so Bargain Christmas presents. Selling framed collagraph prints, mounted collagraph prints and unmounted (best for posting) collagraph prints - and everything fits in an IKEA frame - although obviously more expensive frames can be bought.
​It would be great to see you. 

East coast of Scotland wins! I have a print in three exhibitions this winter SSA 30x30 edition , in SSA Tides changing Changing tides and  VAS FLOW. As an artist who uses the many varied landscapes of Scotland as her inspiration - travelling around in a campervan painting en plein aire. The three prints featured in these three online exhibitions are all East Coast! Duncansby Head stacks, Latheron Wheel and St Abbs. This actually reflects a decision I made about two years ago to widen my area of research in Scotland. 

In the end, the St Abb's plate that caused me such angst, see previous blogs, met with the approval of VAS and is in the online winter exhibition alongside other AMAZING art work - well worth a visit and so easy when its online. Though its not the same. https://vasonlinegallery.oess1.uk/
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Four members of Edinburgh Printmakers have work in Tides changing Changing tides which is a Society of Scottish Artists online (sadly) exhibition 26 November-20 December.  https://www.s-s-a.org/tides-changing-changing-tides/. Miriam Vickers ,Laura Gressani, Christine Sloman and myself.

These are wee prints. 10x10cms they have just come back from the Red Dot Art Mini print exhibition. Newly posted on the website in  https://www.lindyfurby.co.uk/birds-butterflies.html
Great wee Xmas present.

The Macmillan art show 2020 is now closed. I have sold 6 prints - thankyou to all my buyers for supporting this great cause.

This is my Furby wall! These pictures really remind me of good days in the hills with friends. My favourite is the one in the middle, which was a gift from my brother. I love the blues which remind me of the wonderful light you only get with snow.
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So I redid the plate - this time cutting lines with a scalpel, and took the opportunity to simplify the boats and change the textures on some of the houses and lighten the harbour wall. This time it worked better though it must be said these fishing village prints I make are a challenge to ink up a la poupee. The cliffs and harbour wall are tiling cement and everything else is cutting and acrylic medium  (for the light)

New plate

New image